Difference Between HDX and HD

Vudu is one of the many content delivery services that we can avail of. This service lets you rent movies, which are then delivered over the internet into your Vudu box for you to watch right away or set aside for later. Previously, users can choose from the SD and HD formats, but then Vudu released a third format called HDX. The main difference between HDX and HD is the former’s use of a set processing technologies known that Vudu has dubbed as TruFilm.

TruFilm includes the following processing technologies: Psychovisual processing, to detect and re-encode artifacts and pixilation that commonly occurs in dark areas of sky and water; Film Grain Preservation, which uses multiple encoding passes to retain the slight imperfections intentionally put-in by the director; Statistical Variable Bitrate, to allocate more bitrate to scenes with great detail while minimizing the overall size of the film to reduce download time; and lastly Color Gradient Processing, to optimize the movie for modern LCD and Plasma TV sets. All these contribute to HDX having a much better video quality than HD movies.

Aside from TruFilm, HDX also has the advantage of using the 1080p24 resolution and frame rate, optimal for the latest displays of 40 inches and larger. HD movies may use some of the lower resolutions that may not look as good on the larger displays. Even the sound of the HDX movies has also been improved to complete the effect of approaching Blu-ray quality movies.

The downside to HDX movies is that they are quite big compared to HD and SD movies. With the latter two, you can start the movie instantly and watch it while streaming; given that you have a sufficiently fast connection. With HDX movies, you can’t watch it right away, so you have to wait for the movie to actually download before you can watch it.

HDX is certainly better than HD. And with virtually the same pricing, there is not much to prevent you from watching HDX movies. But for spur of the moment movie viewing, there is really no choice but to go with HD movies.

Summary:

1.HDX uses TruFilm processing technology while HD does not
2.HD uses a variety of HD resolutions while HDX only uses 1080p24
3.HDX has much better sound than HD
4.HD movies can be started instantly but not HDX

That’s correct. I can watch HDX movies instantly (75 mbps down and 5 mbps up). The only thing is that I have a rear projection television that is at least 8 years old. The picture is great for HD and HDX but I don’t really benefit from picture. I do have a state of the art sound system that can rival a movie theater so in that case, watching a movie on HDX is awesome for the ears. I am cheap when it comes to replacing things. I am waiting (for some reason) for the latest non 3-D LCD TV to come out below $1,000 for 60+ inches. I only have one TV in my house so that gives you an idea of how little time I have to watch TV/movies as well. I hate going to the movie theater so that is why I spent lots of money on the sound system and now I am waiting for my giant TV to go below $1k so I can have the experience of the movies at home (built the house with a dark room). Watching sports is beautiful. Mitsubishi makes one heck of a television set. All I have had to do to this TV is replace the bulb (DIY) twice. I always have an extra bulb waiting in the closet and the tools just in case I need to get back there and replace the bulb. I want a non 3-D TV that is at least 60 inches or more. Once I make that leap, that will be wall mounted and all the devices (cable box, DVD player and receiver) will be also mounted to the wall, with ONE remote control (Logitech) that handles the whole thing. Can’t wait! Good post!

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Written by : Ben Joan.
and updated on February 10, 2012

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